Part 20

For this chill season now again Brings, in its annual round, the morn When, greatest of the sons of men, Our glorious Washington was born!

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Amid the wreck of thrones shall live Unmarred, undimmed, our hero's fame, And years succeeding years shall give Increase of honors to his name.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

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Washington, the warrior and legislator! In war contending, by the wager of battle, for the independence of his country, and for the freedom of the human race; ever manifesting amidst its horrors, by precept and example, his reverence for the laws of peace and the tenderest sympathies of humanity: in peace soothing the ferocious spirit of discord among his countrymen into harmony and union; and giving to that very sword, now presented to his country, a charm more potent than that attributed in ancient times to the lyre of Orpheus.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

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George Washington may justly be pronounced one of the greatest men whom the world has produced. Greater soldiers, more intellectual statesmen, and profounder sages have doubtlessly existed in the history of the English race--perhaps in our own country--but no one who to great excellence in each of these fields has added such exalted integrity, such unaffected piety, such unsullied purity of soul, and such wondrous control of his own spirit. That one grand rounded life, full-orbed with intellectual and moral glory, is worth, as the product of Christianity, more than all the dogmas of all the teachers. He was a blessing to the whole human race, no less than to his own countrymen--to the many millions who celebrate the day of his birth.

ZEBULON B. VANCE.

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First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere, uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.

HENRY LEE.

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Happy was it for America, happy for the world, that a great name, a guardian genius, presided over her destinies in war. The hero of America was the conqueror only of his country's foes, and the hearts of his countrymen. To the one he was a terror, and in the other he gained an ascendency, supreme, unrivaled, the triumph of admiring gratitude, the reward of a nation's love.

JARED SPARKS.

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The sword of Washington! The staff of Franklin! Oh sir, what associations are linked in adamant with these names! Washington, whose sword, as my friend has said, was never drawn but in the cause of his country, and never sheathed when wielded in his country's cause. Franklin, the philosopher of the thunderbolt, the printing-press, and the plowshare.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

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Others of our great men have been appreciated,--many admired by all. But him we love. Him we all love. About and around him we call up no dissentient and discordant and dissatisfied elements, no sectional prejudice nor bias, no party, no creed, no dogma of politics. None of these shall assail him. When the storm of battle blows darkest and rages highest, the memory of Washington shall nerve every American arm and cheer every American heart. It shall relume that Promethean fire, that sublime flame of patriotism, that devoted love of country, which his words have commended, which his example has consecrated.

RUFUS CHOATE.

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Where may the wearied eyes repose When gazing on the great, Where neither guilty glory glows Nor despicable state? Yes,--one, the first, the last, the best, The Cincinnatus of the West, Whom envy dared not hate, Bequeathed the name of Washington To make men blush there was but one.

LORD BYRON.

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From "Washington's Vow," by John Greenleaf Whittier, read at the dedication of the Washington Arch, at New York City, 1889

How felt the land in every part The strong throb of a nation's heart? As its great leader gave, with reverent awe, His pledge to Union, Liberty, and Law!